For a long time, that’s been a tough question to answer. In dense, bustling cities like Chicago, New York and San Francisco, the number of daily media reports, government proceedings and local Internet conversations is staggering. Every day, a wealth of local information is created — officials inspect restaurants, journalists cover fires and Web users post photographs — but who has time to sort through all of that?

Our mission at EveryBlock is to solve that problem. We aim to collect all of the news and civic goings-on that have happened recently in your city, and make it simple for you to keep track of news in particular areas. We’re a geographic filter — a “news feed” for your neighborhood, or, yes, even your block.

At this time, we cover three American cities: Chicago, New York and San Francisco. On each site, you can type in any address to read local news and public information near you. You’ll find three main types of news:

Civic information — building permits, crimes, restaurant inspections and more. In many cases, this information is already on the Web but is buried in hard-to-find government databases. In other cases, this information has never been posted online, and we’ve forged relationships with governments to make it available.

News articles and blog entries — major newspapers, community weeklies, TV and radio news stations, local specialty publications and local blogs. We do the work of classifying articles by geography, so you can easily find the mainstream media coverage near particular locations.

Fun from across the Web — local photos posted to the Flickr photo-sharing site, user reviews of local businesses on Yelp, lost and found postings from Craigslist and more. We figure out the relevant places and point you to location-specific items you might not have known about.

We like to toss around the word “news” to describe all of this, and that might surprise you at first. Isn’t news what appears on the front page of the New York Times? Isn’t news something produced by professional journalists?

Well, it can be — and we include as much of that on EveryBlock as possible. But, in our minds, “news” at the neighborhood or block level means a lot more. On EveryBlock, “Somebody reviewed the new Italian restaurant down the street on Yelp” is news. “Somebody took a photo of that cool house on your block and posted it to Flickr” is news. “The NYPD posted its weekly crime report for your neighborhood” is news. If it’s in your neighborhood and it happened recently, it’s news on EveryBlock.”

Ed Moltzen attracted my attention on ChannelWeb, hinting at the current Dash activities. Ed also pointed at the two sources quoted below:

“The device is noteworthy because, once deployed, it’s said to do a bunch of things all at once. It’s a GPS navigation device that also integrates WiFi, services from Yahoo, continually updated traffic information and two-way communication.”

“I’ve been on the beta program for Dash Networks who is nearing commercialization of a GPS nav device with a built-in GPRS radio as well as WiFi that enables updated traffic information and Yahoo! Local content while on the go. The Yahoo! Local is pretty good and provides the all-important personalized content related to my location, such as where is the nearest Starbucks or pizza joint. Apart from the obvious interest in the combo of tailored Internet content and location, the as-yet unrealized potential is with the WiFi interface. Currently it’s doing firmware updates when parked in your garage at home or brought in the house. But if these devices or a common protocol for peering among such devices (Standards Bodies, how ‘bout it?) grow in numbers on the streets and highways, whether they be mobile in-vehicle or fixed roadside can be the REAL killer apps for these networks of devices!”

Owners will be able to manage which mashups they receive through Dash’s Website. There, they will be able to drag feeds from sites like Platial, where they can create a Google Map of dog runs in San Francisco or yoga schools in LA. Link it to Zillow, and you will be able to get data on houses as you are driving around the neighborhood. Create a feed at Upcoming.org about all the rock concerts in your city or one of open houses from Craigslist, and you will be able to get the info in your car, along with how far away each place is. You will also be able to do a Yahoo Local search on the device for restaurants and it will return nearby results with ratings.

The tourism board Kitzbühel, Austria, has integrated a “geotargeting feature” into their website www.kitzbuehel.com, reports Tirol.com. The “geographical search engine” is using Google maps to enhance the search experience of users and to foster online bookings especially for smaller hotels, B&B with lower marketing budget.

“This brand new flagship exhibit at the Regent’s Park site will allow visitors the opportunity to use handheld “Node Explorers” to take part in an interactive adventure throughout the London Zoo.

Having hired the Explorer visitors are plunged into an interactive, mobile adventure in which one of the Zoo’s keepers has mysteriously gone missing. Using the Explorer, visitors will have access to an exclusive internal Zoo network, enabling them to complete the various special challenges and quests to discover why the keeper has disappeared from Regent’s Park.”